government is not the solution to our problems, government is the problem. >> the era of big government is over. >> reporter: but, the government has just gotten larger. adjusted for inflation government spend has gone up from average of 882 billion spent every year in the 1980s, to 1.48 trillion in the 1990s to 2.44 trillion a year in the first decade of the 21st century. it is estimated government will have spent as much in the first four years of the new decade as it did in all of the 1990s. nothing typifies the expansion of government as much as the growing wealth of the washington, d.c. area. seven of the 10 nation's richest counties surround washington. average federal worker salary and benefits stands at $126,000. another size of washington's growth, traffic congestion is the nation's worse. as the country suffered through layoffs and recession, washington home prices remained farrell stable. >> the congressional system is set up to spend money, not to save money. incentive for many members of congress to solve a problem is to create a program. >> reporter: with the creation of a